


lustrous fragility

by rndmcrpydnt



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rndmcrpydnt/pseuds/rndmcrpydnt
Summary: "That's because you're not supposed to look at me in the eyes." Senku answered."Why?" Chrome, the ever curious boy, asked.The snake smirked, baring one of his fangs that looked so out of place with his human teeth. "You'll turn to stone if you do."
Relationships: Chrome/Ishigami Senkuu
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	lustrous fragility

There was a legend that went around in Chrome's humble village and in the neighboring villages as well. The tale told of a wise, ancient being. An immortal snake deity that held the answers to all the questions in the universe. They say that if you brought this snake one cow, or three pigs, or five chickens to eat, it will grant you one answer to any question you might ask. Others, however, have warned against seeking out this monster. Saying that it will mislead you with its answers that hold double meanings or that bad luck or death will come to those who chase after the forbidden wisdom.

Chrome, however, brushed off those warnings and placed the five healthy chickens he had been raising for the past few months into the cage he fashioned into a backpack for easier travel. The woman he loved, Ruri, was slowly dying. She had the illness since they were children but none of the treatments any of the doctors in all of the villages they've been to cured her. Chrome wasn't going to let her die.

He set off on his journey, heading north to the deep caves where no one dared to travel to. It took him almost two days but he finally reached the abandoned village just as the legend said. It was filled with stone statues that seemed so lifelike, as if they were real humans enclosed in minerals, trapped in time. He located the biggest hut and headed towards the direction as to where the owl statue was facing. 

Nightfall came and Chrome was nowhere near the cave and he was in the middle of nowhere. He had neglected rest and sleep during his journey as he wanted to get there as soon as possible. His body, however, was shutting down. He was exhausted yet he continued to push himself further until, he couldn't take it anymore.

He woke up and found himself lying on his side facing a cave wall.

"You're up." A voice from behind spoke up. "I can sense you, no point in pretending you aren't."

"Don't scare him, Senku." Another chimed, though this sounded much more gentle. "Poor boy was unconscious out in the cold, it's a good thing Tsukasa found him before any of the wild animals got to him and his chickens."

"Rise," the third and deepest voice instructed. "Join us for dinner, the chickens you brought are a nice break from the usual wild game we get around here."

Chrome followed and rose from the bed he laid on but almost went back to unconscious when he turned to thank the strangers from their kindness. The one facing him was a large man with flowing brown hair and what seemed to be a pair of lion's ears. The second man who had half white and half black hair and bat like ears and wings. Chrome knew of both of them having heard several separate tales about the two deities. The last one, was someone Chrome was both terrified and elated to see. The boy seemed around his age and there was nothing unusual at first glance except for the piece of cloth that covered the top half of his face. However, when he looked, there was a long, single, scaly appendage where his legs were supposed to be and he realized that he found the legend he was desperately looking for.

"You're real!" He cried in relief. "I've been looking for you, wise one. I seek answers that only you hold answers to!"

"You were literally passed out in this forest that nobody goes to because of all the stories it holds with five chickens so unless you're just some random person oblivious to everything I don't know why else you would be here if not for me but we'll discuss business later. Stop starving yourself and eat."

The bat introduced himself as Gen, the lion, Tsukasa, and Senku was the snake. They welcomed him and asked about his journey but did not question his purpose. It was when Gen and Tsukasa left Senku's cave was he able to explain his presence. He told him of Ruri and her illness that made her body weak and caused her to cough up blood.

"Hmm, I'll see what I can do." Senku brought out a cup made out of what seemed like ice.

"What is that?" Chrome asked in awe.

"It's a glass beaker. Place the opening against her back and then place your ear against the other end. Tell her to say 'Eeee' and make sure to remember what it sounds like exactly and report back to me. Stay the night and you can come back tomorrow. Don't bother bringing more chickens especially since you didn't have to in the first place but I appreciate them. Tell me, what are the legends about me nowadays?"

"Well, they say that we have to offer one cow, or three pigs, or five chickens before we could ask you anything. That you hold all the answers to the universe because you were blessed with infinite knowledge but you like to trick people with riddled answers or that bad luck follows after obtaining forbidden knowledge." Senku laughed at that.

"Blessed with infinite knowledge?" He sputtered out. "If that were true then I would be living the most boring life ever!"

"Then, you're not really all-knowing?"

"No! All that I know is knowledge I've gained through centuries of studies and observations. I don't just know everything from a single moment. I observe the world and record information and analyse my data before coming to a conclusion and then I'd do it again and again until I know that what I know is the truth. It's through science that I know everything I do." The snake rambled in a burst of passion.

"Science? What's that? How does it help you know everything?"

"Science is everything. From the particles in soil to the heat of the stars. It's the systematic comprehension, investigation, and exploration of nature's causes and effects. All that there is to Earth and the universe and beyond belongs to science." Chrome wasn't sure if he understood it entirely but he was fascinated with the concept. Senku promised to tell him more when he returned but he rested that night and departed in the morning.

"Tsukasa will show you the quickest path to take. You should be able to arrive at your village before the sun starts to set. I'll see you tomorrow." Senku nodded at him as a farewell and Chrome couldn't help but smile. He followed the lion king out of the forest and asked about anything he could about Tsukasa being part lion and part human. They eventually reached a field that he was very familiar with and he bid the other goodbye before going to Ruri.

The next day Chrome returned to Senku's cave and gave him the information asked. Senku laid out paper detailing what they needed to make the cure and estimated that it would probably take them quite the time to make it but it would definitely cure Ruri. Chrome was disheartened to learn that the powerful snake of the legends wasn't able to provide the medicine he needed in a snap.

"Will you ask me for payment for this? I doubt the five chickens will be enough."

"Your payment will be helping me through this whole process." Senku simply answered. "Take this and gather iron sand from the river nearby."

"Isn't this the stone that always points to true north when placed on a leaf floating on water?" Kuromi questioned and Senku seemed shocked at his knowledge.

"So you know what a magnet is? Explaining would seem easier than I thought. We'll talk more later but you have to work now if you want to save that little priestess of yours."

Day after day, Chrome would go to Senku's cave and work. There were days where they simply had to wait for things and the curious human would ask about science and Senku would gladly indulge him in his curiosity. They had grown closer and eventually, the deity found himself growing fond of the boy in ways that scared him. Gen and Tsukasa had caught onto his feelings as they knew him best but despite the teasing and jokes, they were also worried.

"Can I ask you a question?" Chrome asked one day.

"You ask as if that isn't what you've been doing everyday ever since you first came here," Senku laughed. "What is it?"

"Why the cloth over your eyes? I get that you can kinda see through it and I get an idea on what your eyes look like but why cover it in the first place? Doesn't it bother you?"

"That's because you're not supposed to look at me in the eyes." Senku answered.

"Why?" Chrome, the ever curious boy, asked.

The snake smirked, baring one of his fangs that looked so out of place with his human teeth. "You'll turn to stone if you do."

Chrome's mind flashed to the abandoned village filled with stone statues. Suddenly, Senku's smirk didn't feel as playful anymore and he was reminded that although the snake acted so friendly with him, he was still an immortal. He was still a godlike being with legends that not only tell of his greatness but also of his mischievous and cruel nature. Days passed and Kuromu didn't act the same around Senku who was hurt and confused but thought it was best that the human boy didn't get attached to him. His heart broke every time those brown eyes looked at him with a tinge of fear and unease. Senku continued to fall even deeper for the adoringly eager boy who took tasks with admirable enthusiasm.

Unfortunately for him, good things come to an end.

It was a normal day for Chrome as he was heading towards Senku's cave in excitement. He was told by Gen who sneakily flew into his village that the drug was complete and was ready for Ruri to take. On his way to the cave, he came across a red bush viper with black tips. He did his best to avoid the snake by walking far from it but it quickly slithered his way and bit his leg. He screamed in painful agony as the venom felt like flames spreading through his body, burning him from the inside out. He grabbed the snake and threw it far away from himself. He needed to get to Senku. Senku would know what to do. Pushing himself to his limit, he ran the rest of his way to the cave where he crashed onto the ground at the entrance of it.

"Chrome, what happened?" Senku worriedly asked as he picked up the fallen boy with all his might and laid him onto the bed.

"A snake bit me." He found it hard to breathe but his vision was clear as day. He heard the god curse in rage.

"The snake, what did it look like?"

"It was red with black thorns coming out of it's body." He managed to wheeze out as breathing got increasingly harder, yet his vision stayed clear which he found cruel. He felt Senku's grip on his tighten.

"That bastard." He hissed. Tears came out of Senku's eyes as he knew what he had to do.

He grabbed the dying boy's face and took off the piece of cloth that covered his eyes. Chrome's breathe hitched at the sheer beauty of Senku's eyes. They were a brilliant sparkling red that resembled the precious stones from deep within the earth. He also noticed cracks that ran down from his forehead to the tip of his eye. Senku was one of the most beautiful sights he's ever seen and he now clearly understood the songs that sing of the snake's beauty.

"I love you." Senku whispered with an ache as Chrome's vision dimmed.

When he woke up, he found a sorrowful Gen and Tsukasa sitting at the cave's entrance. Sensing his consciousness, the bat looked at the boy with a sad smile while the lion remained stoic.

"Here's the medicine you've both been working on." He passed a jar to Kuromu and told him of how it should be ingested.

"Where's Senku?" Gen's smile faded at the question. He sighed and pulled his long sleeve back to reveal a green bush viper coiled around his arm. 

"Here he is. Or what's left of him, I suppose."

"What happened?" He almost dropped the jar in shock as he stared at the common snake.

"Once upon a time," Gen started as he looked out onto the village of stone. "An owl of wisdom found two crying snake children left behind in the forest. He found out that they were children of the snake goddess who was killed by a human hero. He took the two children under his wing and raised them as his own. The two snakelets proved to be very bright boys and they continuously discovered new things about the world that pushed humans to new inventions and innovations as they grew. However, as they grew older, one of the twins realized that the people favored his light haired brother. They loved him for his magnetic personality and they often complimented him for his sparkling red eyes as his brother's were not as beautiful." Gen lightly stroked the snake's head as he continued his story.

"The older they got, the bigger the envy grew within him and he began to use forces of nature that he shouldn't have messed with. Filled with jealousy, he cursed his brother's eyes to turn everyone to stone. Everyone that adored and cared for him vanished right in front of his eyes, and that included their father. The cursed twin begged the gods for mercy but they too were too cruel to fix everything. They turned his brother's curse into something else. Everyone that looked into his eyes would be saved from stone or from any illness. He tried to save his father but he realized that he slowly started cracking like stone and that if he were to save only his father, he'd die before he could save anyone else. He swore to dedicate his life in pursuit of the cure that would save everyone from the stone prisons he had trapped them into. Decades after the incident, he had another encounter with his brother who was fully consumed by the darkness. They had another fight and somehow, it ended in another curse. Senku permanently reduced his brother to his lowly snake form but if he were to bite someone, the only cure would be Senku's gaze, taking his own life to save another's. Tsukasa and I have been able to avoid his brother for centuries so he never had to worry about us. We also made him promise to never save us if it were to come to that." At the end of Gen's story, Chrome was in tears. He felt guilty of Senku's fate and to learn that he had loved him as well made him feel worse. 

"Leave, Chrome. There's nothing we can do for him now. You can't save him, but you can save her. I wish you the best in life." Kuromu somehow felt worse when Gen gave him a sincere smile with no hate nor anger in his sad grey eyes. Tsukasa, who had gentle brown eyes filled with unshed tears, simply nodded and gave his shoulder a firm squeeze.

"And then what happened, dad?" The blue eyed boy looked up with wide eyes at his father who told the story.

"Well, Senku, our hero was able to cure the princess with the cure all drug and they lived happily ever after but the snake god's sacrifice was never forgotten."


End file.
